Hey Beautiful
by Dreammaker0506
Summary: Country girl Kimberly fled to New York all alone, to find her love and life back. But her childhood 'lover' disppeared to India suspiciously, the journey didn't went the right way. During her stay she caught up with some troubles with Broadway Star Aaron Tveit, and became best friends with James Franco in college. WIll she ever figure out her worth in the everchanging city?
1. Chapter 1

Hey Beautiful Ch. 1

13 June 2008, it was a sunny afternoon in the New York City. I looked up in the sky, it was immensely blue, not a sign of rain coming. I admired the beauty of the metropolis. It was so different from my hometown, buildings were overlapping each other and there were no hawks hovering over, just hustling and bustling. I took out my new phone. It's nothing compared to those fancy phones in downtown, but it's a luxury for us all young girls ,even our parents were fascinated by its robotic nature too, well it's just a farewell present from my friends before I left.

They said migration was 'Go on! Burn all bridges and leave all your friends! We don't need you and good luck with your completely unknown home and foreign neighbours!" , they said they won't be seeing me in a decade or even longer so this high-tech phone made up for the coming decade. Dorks. It's their saying of don't come back crawling for comfort when you didn't hit the bull's eye like you wanted…Ok it was mocking because at first I thought leaving home alone a token of freedom and independence, like the yellow sparrow flying among the skyscrapers. From the moment I set foot on this city of freedom, I knew this is my only chance.

Reset. Restart. Reborn.

I took a picture of the sapphire sky. I never thought I would find such a colour in such a city. It reminds me of the sea next to my house…

I used to live in the remote countryside, in Kansas, where ducklings and squirrels were my best friends. Though I have some friends in nearby farmhouses, no one understood me more than small animals, they were always there beside me, always there when Dad came home drunk, shouting and almost hitting. Besides animals, books, were my only comfort. Mother left behind a whole library in the deck of the house. I retired there everytime I felt lonely. I was homeschooled, and overprotected, books were the only windows for me to connect to the real world…But no animals could make a good companion like Toby. He and I used to hang out every day by the stream, chasing after furious livestock and playing hide and seek in the fields until Dad was too mad to come and grab us. He left. For a better future. We became penpals, we wrote to each other once a month until recently he told me to move into his flat, in New York. I haven't heard of his noise for 10 years already…I doubt if I could recognize him…He left as a fearless, bright, adventurous, never-growing up Peter pan. We talked about creating the future together but the promise was never fulfilled. I should never expect too much from a boy like Roby. Luckily we were too young or I'd become a helpless victim in immature love…I moved on, carrying my pink handy suitcase. I didn't bring all of my stuff to my new home, just enough to get me by...I moved on, walking gayly, almost skipping to the song in my heart. Passerby stared at me like they saw first Pandas, I continued my way.

I walked and walked from the subway to this four-story bricked building. I glanced up to the second floor and saw one room with windows opened, loud upbeat music was playing, totally unfamiliar and unknown compared to the soulful lullabys mother used to sing me to sleep. Another side of the floor, another opened window and a hand stretching out, she was hanging her clothes, and she saw me.

"Hey there!" she waved and dropped her clothing. My reflexes reacted faster than normal and caught her...bra~

"Oops~" she covered her mouth and giggled shyly. I chuckled along too, out of embarrassment. "You must be Emma! Toby always talked about you!"

"Hi there "I smiled as I was overwhelmed by her uniform cheerfulness, "I'm Kimberly Abigail from Kansas,' I chuckled a bit out of embarrassment because I realized I was holding her bra."Is Toby here?" I looked through the flat but could see no one but this smiling Angel.

"No unfortunately Toby's out for work, In India…, "her smiles disappeared when I mentioned Toby.

"For how long?"

"Three months or longer, but he told me he's an old friend called Kim Abi, he told me to let you stay,"she started picking up the remaining clothes that didn't fall, "By the way I'm Debbie, and friends call me Deb, Hey Kim, why don't you come up here? It's cooler inside!"

"Hey sis, whats the fuss down there?"a blonde teenage came to my sight half-naked.

"Morning Max, this is Kimberly, she'll be living with us from today,"

"hi im Max," he waved coolly while brushing his teeth wildly, i prayed he womt drop his toothbrush down," amd youre holding..."

"Umm Max you must first put some clothes on, its inappropriate..."

"Sis, isnt she…"Debbie pushed him out of the room.

"aha~" she started laughing again,"just get up here and ill make you breakfast, ah, i mean brunch, it's been a tough trip, isn't it?"

"Yeah, sorta..."I looked up at the sky once again. A whole unknown city, Toby's gone for at least 3 months but seemed-friendly-roomates , my worries were halved already. I swear to God, somewhere out there, not in the far future, I'm gonna make a name of myself and come home with my head and shoulders high and proud.

"Kimberly~come on quick! Your coffee is ready!" She appeared in the balcony again. So I opened the door and saw...no elevator, just stairs. Toby always told me they have things called elevators and escalators in the big city…but somehow it's no different from my old home…

I started dragging it up, suddenly I heard a crack, and everything burst out like a volcano. Maybe i was pulling too hard. The suitcase seemed to be unbuckled and I kneeled down to fix it.

"Ah!"something bumped me, someone. It was a guy holding his cellphone, a much fancier one than mine. I tripped him and all his fancy suit was ruined. He gave me a astonished expression. He picked himself up and his phone next, patting off the dirt and tried to hold on the conversation.

"Yeah Mr Johnson, I'm on my way to the threatre, please, 5 minutes is enough." He touched his messed-up hair, and glanced at me quite angrily for one last time before he left.

That was just not a friendly encounter with a new neighbor, but from the two glances I could tell he's handsome, deep blue eyes and perfectly-flowed burnette hair...even if its messed up by my all-fell-over clothing . Well no doubt New York have hotties all around, just like the irresistible protagonist you find in fictions…

"Kimberly! What took you so long?!"Debbie rushed down the stairs like an impatient child waiting for candies. " Oh my God what happened? Let me help you," We started clearing up the floor.

"Wait! Something is missing!" I said

" what?"

"My bra,"


	2. Chapter 2

Hey Beautiful ch 2

Debbie helped me carry my suitcase to our room, she was strong, and carried it like a tiny kitten.

"Welcome home, Kimberly:)"she opened the door and it was nicer than I expected, the wallpapers were light purple with almost invisible tiny flowers, much fairy tale-like, I wonder how her brother tolerate this design..."We two are living here alone since our parents always go traveling, it's small but cozy :)"she smiled like an angel, now I see. She has blonde curls, too pretty for her age. She has deep green eyes and full thick lips, can't believe a sexy lady like her isn't an actress in the Hollywood, but taking care of her younger brother and behaving clumsy and childish at times.

It was a typical living room with white sofa and some handmade decorations,"you made these?" I pointed to the flowery decos hanging from the roof, on the doors and almost everywhere, "Yeah just a little hobby, I once wanna be a designer kind of thing, now I'm a waitress/designer-to-be, ain't got no money to make pretty clothes, just these little stuff,"

"They are pretty,"I commented, and Max was rushing out of the door with his shoelace untied.

"Hey sis I've got a football match later, don't wait for me for supper,"He took a sip of the coffee Debbie prepared for me.

"Break a leg Max!"she turned to me,"He's graduating in a month but still...playing around like Peter Pan~" she shrugged.

"Guys should be like that~Guys in Kansas don't even study, they play all day long!"

"Right? Like Toby?"She took a sip of the coffee she made.

"Yeah Toby was just a reckless soul…"I started having flashbacks of him and me, I mean, I haven't talked about him for ages, now mentioning him is like surging waves…"I'm sorry but are you his girlfriend or anything?"

"Girlfriend?"She choked a bit,"Nonono, you're getting this all wrong, we were just rommates in university, but I take night classes so we seldom see each other,"She smiled after clarifying,"And what brings you here, Kim?"

"Well I have a dream,"I knew I sound stupid, but I try to keep my straight face

" sounds great! what's it about?"

"I dream, and I write..."I glanced my watch,"and I'm late!"

"Oh you better hurry, I gotta report to my cafe in an hour too,"

"It's my first day, Can't afford to be late,"

"Well good luck," she waved.

"And one last question, who's that guy..."

"You mean the guy who tripped over your suitcase? He's Aaron, Aaron Tveit. He's a total sweetheart, just the nicest person you'll ever meet!"she giggled like a woman in love.

"Well doesn't seem so the way he stared at me,"I murmured, and ran away.

Yeah my exam results aren't great enough to get me a place in local college, but that's completely fine with me. I'll come clean. I'm completely useless , thats what my dad always told me...in my past 18 years, I received no awards, best at nothing, my schoolmates not in my class didn't even remember my name, it's as if I never exist. Well, everyone lose their way when they're 18... And I ran away from everything.

You may think im a coward. But I didn't regret it. No one knows my past and my history now in NYC. I was reborn as I stepped into the land of freedom. And this feeling strengthen when I step into the doors of the university.

Keep your head up, Emma, show them who you really are. You are a confident, strong and independent woman, just a dream and flew all the way here all alone. You can do this!

"Miss Lee, please wait there for a minute..." I sat on the couch, with Debbie's coffee in hand, I took a sip, it was good. I wonder what she can't do, she's like superwoman, I thought. Suddenly I heard voices from the room, it was the song playing in the apartment just now...soft and miserable, then a guy started singing, heavenly~

"There's a grieve that couldnt be spoken..."

It was good, but not long after a man cut his music. "Mr Tveit, we really couldn't do this, you're two minutes late,"

"I had an accident and..."

"Like what? A car accident? You look completely fine..."

"No, professor Johnson, I really want this role, I need to be Marius!"

"Sorry Mr Tveit, we have better choices, and next time think of better excuses, you seemed to bring something you shouldn't have brought..."

I peeked through the door as he glanced at his shoe. It was my bra.

"If you really think this audition is important, be punctual and be appropriate," he made a sign for him to go away.

"Oh man, this is just not what I expected..."he turned and opened the door. I stood up.

Aaron tveit, his deep blue eyes locked on mine. He seemed taken back, but then straightened his face and crossed his eyes.

"Who are you?! Do you know what you did to me? Now I've lost my role and maybe could never be Marius again?! Who the hell are you?"

"I'm...Emma, and I didn't know you'll trip my suitcase..."he was angry and look like wanted to start a fight but took in a deep breath.

"Just stay away from me, I don't wanna see you again!" He stormed away and took his tie off. Before disappearing from my sight he picked up the bra still hanging with his shoe.

"Is this yours?"his gaze burning.

"Yes..."I looked down shyly, the most embarrassing moment of my life.

"Haha," he gave a sarcastic laugh,"thanks miss, you literally ruin my life!" He threw the bra at me and the door opened.

"Miss Abigail?" Johnson asked.

"Yes,"I quickly put the bra back to my bag and went in.

It was just a small interview to introduce the school and then I picked up my first class. Screenwriting 101, I stepped in and the lecture has started like 15 mins already. To my surprise, not one of them are taking notes and neither of them turned around to see who's coming this university? I highly doubt it, even highschool students are more serious. But dude, this is America. I took a seat in the back and started to listen carefully, Then I realized I knew everything he said already.

"So guys, just a pop question, what's the opposite of protagonist?"the professor thought he sounded stupid after asking this question.

"What's the opposite? Is it called the villain?"

"What does protagonist mean?'

"I thought it means the main..." Idiots were blabbering.

"It's called the antagonist,"I shouted from the back.

"Nice," the professor smiled,"hey kid, I haven't seen you around, you're the new girl right!"

"Yes I'm Kimberly Abigail, it's my first class,'

"Everybody say hi to Kimberly,"

"Hi Kimberly," nobody turned around, except one. A guy, he had those gorgeous smiles with wrinkles on side that gives you shivers. He had dark hair and eyes, and he seemed to just woken up because not long after my greetings he fell asleep again wih his chin up, the scene was laughable with others around him lining up to play video games on their phones and girls sendings texts. I'm the only one listening.

Class's over and I went to check out the school canteen before my class In the afternoon.I bought a cheese sandwich and apple juice, it was good, but fat, but who cares? I expected to grow a few more pounds in America.

"Hey Kim,"It was the guy in screenwriting class, he held his plate of pancakes and sat beside me."Mind if I eat with you?"

"Just sit if you want,"I took my bag on my knees, just hope my bra doesn't fall out.

"I'm James, what brings you to Screenplay 101?"

"Um…they took me in and I had no where else to go…"

"Do you like watching films Kim? Like Spider-man three?"he smiled.

"Not really? We don't even have a theatre in the countryside…"

"Oh you live in the farms!"He raised his eyebros, "Have we met before ? Do I look familiar to you?"He insisted.

"No James, your face is not a face I would forget…"

"Haha right…"He looked disappointed but delighted at my comment.

I have a feeling we'll become great friends! I like you more than I expected already…"

"Wow that's unexpected, as friends, you mean?"

"Who knows? Hey you wanna come over and watch Spider-Man 3 with me tonight? I mean~It's really good…"His voice is seductive in a funny way.

"Do you guys bring friends over so fast? Considering we've only met for 5 minutes…"

"Not for me, but I wanna know about you…I wanna make my new good friend feel comfortable, hey, Maybe I could bring you sightseeing too! It'd be fun! And you look like a lost puppy who just come here! You need a friend like me!"He punched on his chest, which was comical.

'Oh alright…maybe…"

I noticed girls around us intentionally came closer but pretending to be passing by.

"Oh gosh it's James Franco! Who's that girl beside her?"

"James, are you very popular or something? Or did I miss something important?"

"You just missed the Spider-Man, you'll know tonight…I gotta go, We'll catch up later babe,"He went away coolly chewing his last pancake. I almost ate nothing at all, and I had to hurry to my next lesson.


End file.
